Geometrical tools for the analysis of x-ray polarimetric signals

E. Massaro; E. Del Monte; F. Massa; R. Campana; F. Muleri; P. Soffitta; E. Costa

doi:10.1117/12.2240683

11 July 2016 Geometrical tools for the analysis of x-ray polarimetric signals

E. Massaro, E. Del Monte, F. Massa, R. Campana, F. Muleri, P. Soffitta, E. Costa

Proceedings Volume 9905, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray; 99054I (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2240683
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2016, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Abstract

X-ray polarimetric measurements are based on the study of distributions of the directions of scattered photons or photoelectrons and the search of a sinusoidal modulation with a period of π. We present a new simple tool based on a scatter plot of the modulation curve in which the counts in each angular bin are reported after a shifting by 1/4 of the period. The sinusoidal pattern is thus transformed in a circular plot whose radius is equal to the amplitude of the modulation, while for a not polarized radiation the scatter plot is reduced to a random point distribution centred at the mean frequency value. The advantage of this tool is that one can easily evaluate the statistical significance of the polarimetric detection and can obtain useful information on the quality of the measurement.

Citation Download Citation

E. Massaro, E. Del Monte, F. Massa, R. Campana, F. Muleri, P. Soffitta, and E. Costa "Geometrical tools for the analysis of x-ray polarimetric signals", Proc. SPIE 9905, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 99054I (11 July 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2240683

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